Lupita Nyong’o by Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott for VOGUE October 2015

Lupita Nyong’o by Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott for Vogue October 2015.
On her studies at Yale:
“My training at Yale is the core of the actor that I am. Before that I was just going on instinct . . . having my imagination take over. But Yale taught me that it’s about giving yourself permission to pretend.”
On Oprah and her roles:
“Oprah Winfrey advised me to figure out what my intention is and to act on it,” she says. “I think I can make a difference by having certain stories be told. But it’s in the hope that I will not always be the only one telling them.:
On going home:
“In Africa there is a nationalism that comes with things like winning an Oscar. It’s traditional to be welcomed and celebrated. Praise songs, which are the highest honor in Kenya, were sung for me, and they included lines from my Oscar speech.
On blackness in Africa:
“As Africans, we don’t grow up with a racial identity. We grow up with cultural and ethnic identity before racial identity. I never used the word black as a child. It was never a thing. When was I ever discussing black? Why?”
On working with her stylish Micaela Erlanger:
“I only wear a look if both of us agree on it. My rule is that I have to recognize myself. I have to feel like I’ve chosen it. When you know a dress is handmade, it completely changes the experience of wearing it.”
On her love for both America and Kenya:
“I definitely feel there’s a lot of America in me. The idea that you can be self-made is very vibrant in America. You can do anything that you want to do. That spirit pushes you on. But it took me leaving Kenya to really appreciate the glory of the place. Ultimately, I will always be a child of Kenya.”
Source: VOGUE